The research tends to support the idea that people work around it, that the mitigating circumstances are too important to be ignored, and therefore charges are either not laid at all, or dropped or whatever, in those situations where the person would be facing a mandatory minimum where it is deemed to be inappropriate. Of course, there is all sorts of evidence that also indicates the inappropriateness or the disproportionality in other circumstances where an adjustment is not made and the person does in fact get inflicted with a mandatory minimum. It just does not seem from research, surveys, or whatever to add up to fair justice.
On November 23rd, 2006. See this statement in context.